It Started With a Belly Dance

It’s hard to imagine, but even an American band that plays Middle Eastern music on traditional and Western instruments while singing in Arabic and Turkish can fall into a rut.

It happened with the Brothers of the Baladi, which was born in 1975 in Yuma, Ariz., out of leader Michael Beach’s love for Middle Eastern melodies and rhythms.

The quintet, now based in Portland, Ore., felt the doldrums set in about four years ago.

“We love all kinds of music, and doing strictly traditional Middle Eastern music had become too confining,” Beach said by phone from a tour stop in San Luis Obispo. “Plus, sometimes you can leave audiences behind by playing just one type of ethnic music.”

The answer?

The group began adding other strains of world music, from Celtic, reggae and Afro-Cuban pop to klezmer, Cajun and rock, which first surfaced in 1995 on the band’s fifth album, “Eye on the World.”

“Now our audience has broadened and is no longer dominated by Arabs and Turks,” said Beach, 48, who brings his group to San Juan Capistrano tonight.

The Brothers of the Baladi (Arabic for “from the country”) explore terrain on the group’s new album, “Heart of the Beast.” The sounds of mizmars (Turkish wind instruments), accordions and violins and the rhythms of rock, ska and funk collide on the 15-song disc.

The sprawling project also includes electrified folk songs from Turkey, Lebanon, Iran and Yorkshire; a pinch of the blues, Latin, and Afro-pop; and a tweaked version of the Yardbirds’ 1966 classic “Over Under Sideways Down.”

Beach said the group’s live performances tend to fall into two categories: free-spirited parties with local belly-dancers joining the fun, or sit-down, information-sharing affairs like tonight’s stopover promises to be.

Either way, the band aims to open a window to the world.

“I think you can dance, have a good time and learn some things all at once,” said Beach, who shares songwriting duties with bassist J. Michael Kearsey. “I talk about the history of some of the music and instruments we play. I hope people will open their eyes and ears to something different . . . and maybe gain a greater respect for [non-]Westernized forms of music.”

How did Beach, an American-born former elementary-school teacher from Niagara Falls, N.Y., get hooked on world music?

It began when he saw a belly dancer at work.

“I just fell in love with Middle Eastern music,” he said.

“I was schooled in the Arabic language, and I’d hear a song and immediately want to learn how to play it. The dumbek [a hand drum] was the first instrument I took up.

“I just have a passion for this kind of music. I know I’m not Arab or Armenian,” he said. “I’m not trying to be, either. But I do sing in Turkish, Persian, Arabic . . . and other languages.

“By touring mainly here in the U.S., I can bring a part of each culture to an expanded audience.”

* The Brothers of the Baladi perform tonight at Marco F. Forster Middle School, 25601 Camino del Avion, San Juan Capistrano. 7 and 9 p.m. $3-$6. (949) 493-1133.